Safety

Staff from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention listen and look as they are provided a tour of the Static Detonation Chamber 2000 during surrogate testing. Boxes containing surrogate materials waiting to be fed into the detonation chamber sit on the infeed conveyor in the foreground.

Surrogate Test Completed at Blue Grass

Experts preparing the Static Detonation Chamber 2000 at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant concluded an important test in early November, preparing for its use destroying nerve agent by effectively destroying surrogate chemicals, according to preliminary results. “This was the next step in demonstrating the system is capable of safely destroying nerve-agent filled rockets,” …

Surrogate Test Completed at Blue Grass Read More »

Workers lower a 30,000-pound buffer tank into the Blue Grass Static Detonation Chamber 1200 building through an opening in the roof. This tank will buffer exhaust gases from the destruction process of the drained nerve-agent rocket warheads before the gases are processed in the off-gas treatment system.

New Tank Safely Lowered Through Roof

A team of specialists placed a 30,000-pound buffer tank through a roof opening in the former Blue Grass mustard-agent destruction facility March 14 to ready the building for the next chemical weapons destruction effort.

Workers remove the first crate of non-contaminated rocket motors from a storage igloo on the Blue Grass Army Depot in preparation for transport to the Anniston Army Depot in Alabama. The first load was shipped out Nov. 1 and received Nov. 2. The motors will be destroyed in the Anniston Static Detonation Chamber when environmental permitting is completed. A portion of this photo has been blurred in accordance with Department of Defense guidelines.

First Non-Contaminated Rocket Motor Shipment Completed

The first boxes of non-contaminated rocket motors were transported via truck from the Blue Grass Army Depot Nov. 1 and safely arrived Nov. 2 at the Anniston Army Depot in Alabama to be destroyed in a Static Detonation Chamber.

Medical personnel perform a drill of stabilizing a patient (a medical dummy) and preparing him for transport to a local hospital at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant. The plant relies upon 12 area hospitals to receive decontaminated and stabilized personnel in the unlikely event of a chemical-agent or industrial accident.

Coordination with Hospitals Essential for Plant Operations

Following a brief pause in processing while local hospitals were at capacity due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Blue Grass plant officials coordinated with additional area hospitals and enhanced coordination with the Blue Grass Chemical Activity and the Madison County Emergency Management Agency/Kentucky Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program, or CSEPP, to ensure coverage in the event of an unlikely chemical-agent contamination or industrial accident.

Medical response personnel treat and prepare a training dummy for transport as an exercise evaluator looks on during a simulated agent exposure drill at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant in December.

Drill Enhances Emergency Response

Blue Grass medical staff and personnel from several other departments recently participated in a drill to test and train response to an emergency in the main plant.

A worker helps prepare one of the supercritical water oxidation reactors for installation at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant in 2013.

Decision Made Regarding Use of Secondary System

The Blue Grass supercritical water oxidation system, originally intended for treatment of a specific plant secondary waste, will no longer be used. Chemical weapons will continue to be destroyed at the Blue Grass plant.

Scroll to Top